select an audio file of your choice and make sure you convert it to a wave file not just wav

rename it 5080 if you are using English version of windows 7 united states language,so your audio file should be 5080.wave .(DON'T MAKE YOUR WAVE FILE MORE THEN 330 KB AS I'M NOT SURE HOW BIG IT CAN BE )

copy (imageres.dll ) file you will find this c/windows/system32 and save to desktop also make a copy of it and put it in a safe place just in-case things don't go right for you.

download XN resource Editor Open the imageres.dll file in XN resource editor that you have saved to your desktop find the folder that reads wave and expand it below it is a file named 5080 expand that and right click delete resource on the file named English (United States)

select resource in XN Resource Editor then select import user resource find your file we made named 5080 and save and then exit now replace the imageres.dll file that you have made into c/windows/system32 and your good to go reboot enjoy. i have tried other ways and they didn't work for me i just played around with things and this is what worked for me

YOU MUST DO THIS IN SAFE MODE OR IF YOU HAVE A DUAL BOOT USING XP IT WILL MAKE THINGS EASY also make sure you un check the Play Windows start up sound before you try to change it ....

Note: we provide third party links for your convinence it may change without notice Microsoft doesn't give guaranty on provided links.

Perhaps Microsoft could restore the capability of changing the Windows startup sound to it's previous safe technique?Several of us would like to change that.Why remove such a simple capability?Fastwilly

I followed this procedure, but ran into trouble when I tried to save the edited imageres.dll. I came up with an error both in regular mode and safe more. In safe more it was error 50 (if that helps). Did anyone else get this? And if so, how can I get around it? Oh yea, by the way my wav file was 110 KB . Or, should I just wait till windows comes out with an update that will allow the user to change these sounds?

I am having same problem get error 50 wave file is 43 kb, I even renamed the file to 5080.wave that did not work the original name was Oper.wav which I renamed oper.wave. I just hate the startup wave file I want to replace like we could once upon a time. MS made an error in not allowing the user this function

I can't understand, why you don't follow the method described inhttp://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproui/thread/2981e886-9401-49fc-84b4-466505a0506bas I proposed on Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:29 AM,at least to give it a trial.

6) Right click 1033 (this could have a different name depending on your locale), and click Replace Resource. Click "Open file with new resource", and find the wave file you want to replace it with. Once you're done, in Resource Type, type "WAVE", in Resource Name type "5051", and under Resource Language type "1033" (or whatever number you have). Once done, click Replace.

7) Click File, then click Save. Now you can copy this file to Vista's System32 folder.

Keep the imageres_original.dll file ResHack left behind in case you want to revert back to the original sound.

8) You might have some Permission issues while replacing the old file, if you have linux live cd handy, copy the new dll to a thumb drive & boot off from it and replace the file.

I got it to work, I had to download the latest Beta Version of ResHacker at http://www.softpedia.com/get/Programming/File-Editors/Resource-Hacker.shtml to get the procedure to work.After I hacked the DLL I went to C:\Windows\System32 and renamed the imageres.dll to Imageres.Old then Copied and pasted the hacked imageres.dll to the C:\Windows\system32 directory

The problem is that the enabling/disabling the startup sound is a flip flop type (ie. either on or off) switch and you need to clearly communicate to Windows 7 that the switch is off. Do this as follows: 1. Goto Control Panel Sounds page and make sure the checkbox for startup sound is checked and, if it is highlighted, click on Apply button at lower right of page. 2. Shutdown computer.3. Restart computer and goto Contron Panel Sounds again. This time uncheck the startup sound checkbox then be sure to click on the Apply button.4. Shutdown your computer again and restart and you will find that the windows 7 startup sound has been disabled.

How to Change Start up sound in Windows 7 This assumes you are using American English versuion of W-7 Language type 1033
All Windows 7 allows is for you check or un-check play start up sound in Windows 7 you have to do the following to change the default sound of your choice

6) Right click 1033 (this could have a different name depending on your locale), and click Replace Resource. Click "Open file with new resource", and find the wave file you want to replace it with. Once you're done, in Resource Type, type "WAVE",
in Resource Name type "5080", and under Resource Language type "1033" (or whatever number you have). Once done, click Replace.

7) Click File, then click Save. Now you can copy this file to Vista's System32 folder.

Keep the imageres_original.dll file ResHack left behind in case you want to revert back to the original sound.

8) For Windows 7 go back to C:\Windows\System32 directory rename the imageres.dll to Imageres.old then copy and paste the new hacked Imageres.dll into C:\windows\system32 directory

Have followed the recommended instructions in safe mode both with the most recent available ResHacker and XN ResEditor to no avail.

With ResHacker I get the following error when I try to copy & paste the altered imageres.dll file:
Error 0x800704C8 The requested operation cannot be performed on a file with a user-mapped section opened.

With XN ResEditor when I try to save the changes I get: System Error. Code 50. The request is not supported.

I even tried it with Win Defender and my F-secure antivirus disabled, with no joy.

Has anyone out there had these same issues using Win 7 and managed to overcome them?

Managed to change Win 7 startup sound eventually but had to use my laptop which runs XP to do it, here's how I did it.

I copied my imageres.dll and the wave file I wanted to use as my Win 7 startup sound from my PC transferring it to my laptop with a usb stick.

I then booted my laptop in safe mode and followed the instructions for using ResHacker, (see one of the responses above).

I booted up my PC using a Ubuntu live cd, (as suggested by Super Sarge, above), tranferred the altered imageres.dll file from my laptop back to my Win 7 PC via the usb stick, replaced the altered dll back into the Win System 32 Folder,
and hey presto, it worked.

Neither ResHacker or XN ResEditor would work for me in a Windows 7 environment, in fact XN ResEditor would not work on my XP machine either.

I hope this is of some use to anyone who may have thought about giving up and just living with Win 7 startup sound. It can be changed.

It appears that a lot of you are having file permission issues when trying to modify the imageres.dll file! One thing i can suggest is to use the hidden "system" accont! it has much higher priviliges then the administrator account and you'll be able to
edit anything without a problem! just be warned...if you don't know what you're doing you will need to reinstall your entire operating system which is a real bummer! for instructions on how to access the hidden system account just google it!

This is my first post on the net but it's a good one. i was able to get around the permission issue and the error 50 by using a program i had on my pc for awhile now. i used winbubble which is a handy little freeware program that is great for win7. run winbubble
and on the first tab there is a box to add functions to your right click menu. check the box for "take ownership of this file" and then click the apply button. restart your system. now right click the imagres.dll file you saved earlier. on
the right click menu you will see the take ownership of this file option. click it. that's all there is to it. now when you save the file there is no more error. also remember to do the same thing in the system 32 imageres and no more hassles changing
the file name.

I have to agree with all those who have asked why Microsoft felt it necessary to prevent users from customizing their start up sound in the first place ...and isn't it strange that nobody can answer that?

If you don't mind logging in and entering a password each time you log in, there is a way to get what you want. I originally had my system set up with myself as administrator and no password. I added a password so I would have to log onto windows,
then I changed the "Log onto Windows" sound to point to a wave file I wanted, and Voila, every time I log into Windows 7, my computer says "Hello Major, at your command".

I used reshacker and changed a backup copy of the imageres.dll. When I try to rename the original file that is in the system32 folder it says "you need permission from the TrustedInstaller to make changes to this file" I won't use the reshacker on the
original file while it is in the system32 folder. It looks like Microsoft updated something to keep people from modifing this file. Has anyone figured out a way to changed the file recently? What people were doing in 2009 no longer works.

This cracked method is not support by Microsoft. Please fully backup your computer before modifying it. An incorrect modification may cause computer crash.

Thanks.

Then would you consider allowing people to change it?

It's always been an option in the past and I expect this is just a rather foolish decision from on-high at Microsoft because they think people recognise and associate a specific startup sound with the company.

The truth is people rarely ever listen... Even something as recognisable as the single breathy Apple tone would have 99% of people scratching their heads as to where they'd heard it.

After reading this entire thread I had to throw my two cents in, in hopes of saving you folks a lot of grief...

In windows, some things were not meant to be changed. Case in point:

Back in the days of Win2K and XP, I used to be way into "skinning" my system, using such tools as Stardock, Winblinds, XP Themes (the themes that skin the start menu, change the system icons - completely revamp the GUI). Every time I used these,
they worked fine for a while, but eventually explorer came unraveled - I'd close a folder and artifacts - sections of the window - would remain on the screen and couldn't be removed without restarting windows. Then explorer would start crashing frequently.
It would finally get to the point where I couldn't use the system at all, with all the explorer crashes, etc. and I'd have to re-install windows. This happened on several different PCs and in win2k and XP. I later learned that just replacing the system icons
(the folder class, start menu icons, etc.) would cause the same problems. I finally abandoned the practice of skinning windows altogether. I haven't tried such things in vista or win7, as these OSes came out after I had stopped skinning.

The moral to the story is, beware of changes that microsoft doesn't approve of - there may be a good reason. I was thinking of changing my win7 startup sound, but after reading all of the hit-and-miss replies to this thread I've changed my mind. I did go
out to the WinAero site mentioned in one of the replies to see if that might be a safe alternative, but after reading one of the comments there by someone with win7 64-bit whose icons got totally hosed after running their Startup Sound Changer (my system is
64-bit) I've decided to either put up with windows' startup sound, or just disable it and use a cool logon sound. This is the path I would recommend - do otherwise at your own peril. It may work for
some people, but from the replies I've read here you may end up re-installing your OS. Not worth it for me...

Go the link below, download the startup sound changer file, when you've downloaded it unzip the file and open the .exe file, a menu will appear the allows you to 'play', 'replace' or 'restore' your startup sound, click 'replace' which will bring up
a box where you can choose the start up sound you want from your computer (which obviously must be a .wav file), choose you sound and click ok, click 'play' to make sure its the right sound, then click 'exit'...........job done.

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...apparently this program was created by some windows enthusiasts, cant believe Microsoft took this option away in the first place...so annoying.

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